Railway-crossing gate



J. F. CUTHBERT RAILWAY CROSSING GATE Dgc, 7

Filed Jan. 26, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ill INVENTORQ Patented Dec. 7, 1926.

STATES FATET FFEQE- 7 JAMES FBEDBIGK CUTHBERT, 0F FEBTILITY,'ALBERTA, CANADA, ASSIG-NOR OF ONE- I-IALF T0 THOMAS P. IVIANGAN, OF MAUNDERS, ALBERTA, CANADA.

RAILWAY-CROSSING GATE.

Application filed January This invention has relation to certain new and useful improvements in railway crossing gates and controlling means therefor and has for its primary object the provision of a mechanism of this character which is of extremely simple construction and operation with the parts arranged in compact form at the opposite sides of the track and along the rails thereof.

The invention has for a further object the provision of a railway crossing gate' and controlling means therefor in which are included hinged platforms at opposite sides of the track to release the gates and thereby permit the same to swing upwardly to operative position at the sides of the track, when the platforms are released by an approaching train on the track and the platform is pressed down by a vehicle or the like passing over the same while the platforms are released, the train again setting or returning the gates to their normal horizontal or inoperative position as the train passes the crossing.

The invention has for astill further object the provision of railway crossing gates and operating means therefor constructed and arranged in such a manner that the gates will be operated only by vehicles passing over the platform at a time whenthe platforms are released by an approaching train and the gates then again returned to normal horizontal or inoperative position by the train passing the gates after the vehicle has left the platform, so that the vehicle may cross the track and the gates after the train:

has passed.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, as will appear as the description pro-' ceeds, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of co-operating elements as hereinafter more specifically set forth, claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of the present application and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the complete invention, with the parts in normalposition.

I 2 is a vertica l section, substantially This invention has for another objectthe 26, 1925. Serial No. 4,696.

on the plane of line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section, substantially on the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Flg. 4 is a vertical section at right angles to Figs. 2 and 3. and taken substantially on the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated bythe arrows;

Fig. 5 is a detail section, substantially on the plane of line 55 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. .6 is an enlarged detail section, substantially on the plane of 66 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. v 1

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail elevation, showing one of the wheel actuated platform. releasing members and the mounting of the same.

Referring more in detail to the drawings in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, it is tobe noted that a gate 10 is hingedly mounted along its outer longitudinal edge in the gate supporting frame 11. at eitherside of the track 12 and outwardly of the track rails 12 The gates 10 are arranged to spring downwardly toward the track 12, as shown clearly in Fig. 2 of the drawings. A platform 13 is also hingedly mounted in a platform frame 14, outwardly of each gate 10. The gate 10 and platform 13 will be described more in detail, as the description proceeds.

It will be readily seen from the drawings, particularly Figs. 2 and 3, that the gate frames 11 and platform frames 14 are countersunk in the surface-of the road crossing track, so that when the gates 10 andplatforms 13 are in normal position, they are flush with the surface of the road. This .will permit the vehicles to move along the road and over the track 12 without injury to the parts of the invention on eith'erside of the track 12. On either side of the track 12, the gate 10 is held in its normal or horizontal position within the frame 11, by latch members 15, which are pivoted on the pivot members 16, within the frame '11 and extended over the edge of the gate 10, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. .The .latch'members 15 are resiliently retained innormal or operative position by appropriate springs 17 connected therewith and with the frame 11. Releasing cables 18 are connected with the latch members and with the lower ends of bell crank levers 19 which are mounted intermediate their arms on pivot members 20 provided for this purpose on the supporting brackets 21, beneaththe platform 13, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. The bell crank levers 19 are arranged in such'a manner that their curved arms engage the under face of the platform 13, near the free edge thereof opposite the hinged edge of the platform 13. Expansion .springs 22 are arranged beneath the platform 13 to resiliently retain the latter in its normal horizontal position. A latch bolt 23 is also provided for the platform 13 and when in operative position, engages beneath the depending member on the last mentioned free edge of the platform 13, to prevent downward 'inolvement of the platform-13 on its hinge It is apparent that whenthe' latch bolt 23 i's withdrawn to inoperative position, the weight of the vehicle or a pedestrian on the platform 13 will serve to press the latter downwardly on its hinge 25 and against the actionfof the springs 22, thereby operating the bell cranklevers 19 on their pivots '20 and pulling on the cables 18 to actuate the latch members 15 and swing the latter on their pivots 16 to inoperative position, thereby releasing the gate 10 and permitting the gate 10 to be.swungnpwardlyon its hinge 26, under the influence of the spring 27 connected by one end with the gate frame 11, while the other end thereof is connected with an arm 28 extended from the hinged edge of the gate 10, as shown in Fig. 2. A rod 29 is connected with the arm 28 and extended loosely through an opening 30 provided therefor transversely in the web portion of the track rail 12", as shown in detail in Fig. 5. The rod 29 is connected with the inner end of a plate 31 and is pivotally connected with the opposed inner end of a second plate 32, by a link 33 carried by said plate 32 and pivoted to the rod '29. plates 31 and 32 diverge toward their other ends and are mounted on the supporting bolt 34 extended through the web of the rail 5011-2 and through elongated longitudinal slots 35 in the outer ends of the plates 31 and '32, as shown clearly in the drawings. The plates 31 and 32 have their main portions osses "and extended upwardly to a "plane nearly parallel with the upperedge of tread portion of the rail 12 so that the flanges ef the ear wheels passing along the rail 1,2 willforoe the plates 31 and 32 toward the rail 12 forcing the T011 29 outwardly to reto turn the ggate 10 to its horizontal er inoper 'veoosiiiion, against the tension-of the spring :2 ,ma permit the gate 710 to be autoits horizontal/inoperative s reneeposition. by the latch members 15, the train passes the crossing.

The

he latch bolt 23 works through the bolt casing 36 carried by the platform frame 14 and a pair of cables 37 are extended from the latch bolts 23 which may be any conventional form of spring latch appropriate for this purpose. The cables 37 extend toward the track rail 12, then pass around guide pulleys 38 and diverge so as to extend in opposite directions along the outer face of the track rail 12. The ends of the'cables 37 are connected to the platform releasing levers 39 which are positioned onthe side of the trackrails 12 and mounted on suitable pivot members lOso that the free ends 11 of the levers 30 project above the track rail 12 to cause operation of the proper levers 39 aid thereby release the platform 13. The levers 39 are resiliently retained in normal position by springs 12 connected tl erewith and with the track rail'12 as shown" in detail in Fig. 7. It will be ap- 7, that the operation of the levers 3.9 by

trains passing in misdirection over the'tracl;

rail will result in releasing of the-platform 13 by the levers 39 at one side of the ;crossing, while the operation of the'levers at the other side will have no effect upon the latch bolt 23. This will be reversed when trains are passing over the rails 12 from the other direction and in this case, the first aentioned levers 39 will operate without having any effect upon the latch lever 23. B referring to Fig. 6, it will be seen that the latch bolt 23 for each platform '13 is resiliently retained in operative position by the spring 4-3 within the casing 36 of the latch bolt 23 andwhich casing 36 has a removable end or head it. This is the preferred form of latch bolt employed but such details may be varied, as desired.

It is believed the complete construction and operation of the railway crossing gates and operating means therefor may now be apparent to parties familiar with this art,

from the foregoing paragraphs, 1 taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, without further detail description. It may be briefly stated, however, that the plat- .form1-3 and gate 10 at each side of the crossing are normally in horizontal position so that vehicles and pedestrians may cross the track without difficulty, aslong as there is no :danger from approaching trains. While the gates 10 are located adjacent the track,

the platforms 13 should be located some .dis-

tance from the crossing as will be evident. When a tra n s approaching from either direction :on the track, the platform releasing levers 41-1, which are alsosomeldistance from the crossing will be operate-dby'the gwheels'of the train to :withdra wthe latch bolt 23 and thereby release maples-Gian 13, so ha t e r reh el 0 r "frian upon the platform will press the same-down- ,parent from the drawin s, parti'c'ularly'Fig.

are

wardly against the action of the springs'22 and thereby operate the bell crank lever 19 under the platform, thus actuating the latch members 15 for the gates 10 at the side of the track from which the vehicle or pedestrian is approaching the crossing. The spring 27 for the gate 10 will immediately act to swing the gate 10 upwardly in front of the vehicle or pedestrian and thereby prevent crossing of the track. As the train ately after operation of the platform 13, so

as to permit the latch members 15 to resume their operative positions for automatically catching and holding the gate 10 when the latter is returned to its normal horizontal or inoperative position. It is also apparent that the gate 10 need not be operated unless a vehicle or pedestrian is crossing the plat-- form at the time a train is about to pass the crossing.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of co-operating elements may be resorted to within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim as new is:

1. A railway crossing gate and operating means therefor including a gate adjacent the track; a platform associated with said gate; latch means for said gate; latch means for said platform; means carried by the track for releasing the platform as a train approaches the crossing; means for releasing the'latch means for the gate when the platform is pressed downwardly by a weight upon the same after releasing of the latch means for the platform; and means operable by the train for returning the gate to inoperative position as the train passes over the crossing.

2. A. railway crossing gate and operating means therefor including the combination with said track rails; of hinged gates mounted near the rails and outwardly of the sides of the track; platforms hingedly mounted outwardly of the gates; latch means for retaining the gates in normal horizontal unoperated position; means for resiliently supporting the platforms in normal horizontal unoperated position; latch bolts extending beneath said platforms to prevent downward swinging movement of the platform; means mounted on the rails of the track at a suitable distance from the crossing to withdraw said latch bolts as a train approaches the crossing; means operable by the platform when pressed down after withdrawal of the latch bolts to release said gates; means to automatically swing'the gate upwardly when released; means at the crossing and operable by the train to return the gates to horizontal unoperated position as the train passes the crossing; the latch bolt withdrawing means at either side of the crossing being arranged to withdraw the bols when operated in one direction onlv, thereby making the said means at either side of the crossing operable according to the direction of travel of the train on the track rails; a coun ersunk frame for each gate: and a countersunk frame for each platform.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

JAMES CUTHBERT. 

